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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a press conference at Queen Alia International Airport on Friday, July 19, 2013 in the Jordanian capital Amman. Kerry says Israel and the Palestinians will meet soon in Washington to finalize an agreement on relaunching peace negotiations for the first time in five years. Kerry has told reporters that he and the two sides "reached an agreement that establishes a basis for direct final status negotiations," but he added that it is "still in the process of being formalized." The announcement Friday came at the end of a visit by Kerry to the region holding several days of talks with both sides. (AP Photo/Mandel Ngan, Pool)

Mideast peace talks, round 2, slated for Aug. 14

WASHINGTON — The second round of Mideast peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is slated for Aug. 14 in Jerusalem, to be followed by a later meeting in Jericho on the West Bank, the State Department announced on Thursday.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Mideast peace envoy Martin Indyk and deputy special envoy Frank Lowenstein would travel to the region to facilitate talks to craft a two-state solution to the long-running conflict. The first round was July 31 in Washington.

Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, meanwhile, will update Jewish community leaders on Thursday night and Arab-American leaders on Friday on the resumption of direct final status negotiations and listen to their concerns. The meetings are to take place at the White House.

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — lands Israel captured in 1967. The renewed talks are to draw Israel's borders with such a state. Since 1967, Israel has built dozens of settlements on war-won land — deemed illegal by most of the international community.

Israeli settlements are a contentious issue between the two sides.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Cabinet expanded its list of West Bank settlements eligible for government subsidies, a decision that came just days after the resumption of the long-frozen peace talks. The Cabinet approved a range of housing subsidies and loans for more than 600 Israeli communities deemed "national priority areas." The list includes poor towns in Israel's outlying areas as well as dozens of settlements.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat sent a letter to Kerry on Thursday complaining about the latest Israeli settlement announcements, saying they were an indication of "Israel's bad faith and lack of seriousness."

Erekat urged Kerry to "take the necessary action to ensure that Israel does not advance any of its settlement plans, and abides by its legal obligations and commitments." He added the Palestinians see the move as a direct defiance of the U.S. role in facilitating negotiations. The letter concluded by stressing the importance of stopping settlement activity because with continued settlement expansion it is difficult to see how direct negotiations "will bring about progress towards a peace agreement."

Psaki said U.S. officials were speaking with the Israeli government to express concern about the settlements.

"We do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity and oppose any efforts to legitimize settlement outposts," Psaki said. "The secretary has made clear that he believes both of the negotiating teams are at the table in good faith and are committed to working together to make progress."

Separately, as part of the talks, Israel is to free 26 long-held Palestinian prisoners on Aug. 13, the day before the second round of talks are held in Jerusalem. It would be the first of four groups of a total of 104 veteran prisoners to be freed during the next few months.

No date was announced for the talks in Jericho.

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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.